As it was pointed out to me that all of the many “Best of Film Posters” lists for 2014 were rubbish, I am diving in to save the day. Besides, I did so little film-type work this year, I need to start somewhere. This is most definitely not a top 10 film list. My year’s best (in a year that I admit to having missed many) does not have a poster in the top 10, and some of these are for movies best skipped. Enough with stalling, here they are, counting to the best:
| #10 Birdman
A classic pop culture look, with a metaphor. I got a sense of what I’d be in for, but more, I wanted to be in for it. |
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| #9 Inherent Vice
A poster that’s part nostalgia for a near-by-gone-age, part quirk, part thriller, part comedy. Add a dash of sex, and we’ve got a poster and a movie.
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| #8 Horns
Horns could be a classic just on its poster collection. I chose this version, but there are several others just a curl behind. Here we see a fairy tale, but not one that’s filled with glee. There’s darkness in them thar points.
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| #7 The Maze Runner
Posters for The Maze Runner show up on every list, but different posters. It has a score of them, some drab, some looking like every other YA movie of recent years, and some fantastic. This is in the last category. |
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| #6 As Above, So Below
Is it a cheat to include a poster from a film that not only have I not seen, I hadn’t even heard about until I studied all the film posters for the year? Apparently it is for another dumb found footage movie (“dumb” always goes with “found footage”), but don’t you wish it was for something good? |
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| #5 Grand Budapest Hotel
It’s all about the quirk. You see that mountain goat, and you know exactly what you are in for. OK, you aren’t in for anything that special (it wasn’t exactly a great film), but nothing all that bad either. Humor to smile at, not to laugh with. Like the poster.
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| #4 Godzilla
Another film with a stack of posters, some better than others. This is the best, showing scale, destruction, and a bit of loneliness. Too bad the film itself couldn’t show quality–Gojira ’54 it was not. |
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| #3 Maleficent
Simple and elegant, not unlike the film. A poster that makes it clear everything is about Angelina Jolie, and in this case, that’s all you need. Maleficent was Eugie’s favorite movie of the year, and I can’t fault her for that. |
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| #2 The Interview
A great poster does not mean a great movie (See Godzilla). The film was kinda satire. The poster is satire, and gets it right. Makes you want to march, wave a flag, launch a missile. |
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| #1 Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Combining the look of film noir and the cover of a trashy thriller novel, the Sin City 2 poster is sexy, evocative, and tells you everything you need to know about the movie. The film couldn’t live up to its predecessor (though better than most reviews would have you believe), but the poster did. Is there any doubt that she’s been especially bad?
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And a few honorable mentions for films that pulled out the stops making some old-school posters. Guardians of the Galaxy‘s looks like a hundred other action/SF posters from 20 years ago, but better. It goes right next to a Star Wars poster. Captain America: The Winter Soldier has a lot of posters, but this one says Alfred Hitchcock’s Captain America. Then there is Nurse 3D, doing pin-up right.
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